The ability to control the heating and cooling of engine systems as well as other elements included in a vehicle may affect the efficiency and performance of the system or element. A cooling assembly may be used to control a temperature of a vehicle component, such as a combustion engine, an AC component, or a vehicle battery. The cooling assembly may comprise a plurality of blades controlling a cooling air stream, where the plurality of blades control the size of at least one air inlet opening and/or the flow of the cooling air stream. By adapting the vehicle component with the cooling assembly, a method for controlling said temperature is provided.
Engine blocks are often coupled to a radiator that flows a coolant through a circuit that extracts heat from combustion chambers of the engine. The radiator is arranged in front of the engine block in a front compartment of the vehicle and is itself cooled by air directed to flow across a surface of the radiator. In turbocharged engine systems, an additional heat exchanger may be positioned in front of the radiator. The second heat exchanger is typically a charge air cooler (CAC) that cools air boosted by the turbocharger and may also rely on air-to-air cooling to transfer heat away from the boosted air.
Air flow is often channeled to the heat exchangers by incorporating a grille in the front end of the vehicle so that ram air may stream across the heat exchangers during vehicle navigation. In modern cooling systems, shut-off devices are used to vary rates of airflow across a surface of a heat exchanger. For example, with a low external temperature or during a warm-up phase of a combustion engine, the airflow across an engine radiator may be controlled or regulated. One example of a device for controlling temperature controlling an air throughput of an air inlet in the front region of a motor vehicle is shown by Fischer et al. in EP Patent No. 2 172 357. Therein, a blocking device is described that has at least two different blocking elements which are displaceable with respect to one another and which through such displacement determines a degree of opening width of the blocking device. A power-operated actuation of one of the blocking elements may be induced by a bimetal deformation.
Another example of a device controlling an air throughput of an air inlet in the front region of a motor vehicle is shown and described by Preiss in U.S. Pat. No. 8,091,516. The device, comprising blades arranged in a louver formation, with a bypass channel blockable by a further blade, includes an actuating element controlling all the blades which are arranged in front of the radiator. The device may include a bimetallic actuator.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such systems. As one example, the openings accommodating air flow in the devices described above may be large, resulting in increased drag on the vehicle. This issue may be alleviated by the incorporation of active grille shutters (AGS) where the individual louvers of the grille may be actuated between open and closed positions to regulate air flow therethrough. Thus drag may be minimized by closing the AGS when cooling demand is low. The AGS is opened or closed by an actuator, however, that may increase costs as well as demanding additional space to accommodate placement of the actuator proximal to the AGS. Furthermore opening of the AGS to allow maximum cooling capacity imposes severe drag on the vehicle.
In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a device for controlling a temperature of a vehicle component, comprising a plurality of blades coupled to a first of a second cooling device of the vehicle and controlling a cooling air stream, the plurality of blades controlling a size of at least one air inlet opening and/or a flow of the cooling air stream, the plurality of blades comprising bimetallic blades configured such that bending and movement of each blades takes place automatically with a change of temperature of each blade in order to control the cooling air stream by varying a position of each blade. In this way, a device for may control a temperature of a vehicle component, such as a combustion engine, an AC component or a vehicle battery, by means of a cooling device of the vehicle which makes use of a plurality of blades controlling a cooling air stream, which blades control the size of at least one air inlet opening and/or the flow of the cooling air stream; and to a method for controlling said temperature.
As one example, a cooling assembly with a compact structure that is low cost with improved aerodynamic properties may be used to replace the AGS. The cooling assembly allows a combustion engine to be brought to an optimum operating temperature at which it works most efficiently. Unnecessary wear of the engine and unnecessary fuel consumption are thereby avoided. For example, undesired cooling during a warm-up phase of the engine is avoided by providing a self-regulating heat-exchanger shut-off flap arrangement.
The device may be configured for use with vehicles or motor vehicles which require cooling systems for different applications, e.g., a combustion engine, an AC component or a so-called “AC condenser”, a battery cooling arrangement, etc. The heat dissipation effected by the ambient air takes place in the heat exchanger or the radiator, which is preferably arranged in the front region of the vehicle. In order to achieve sufficient airflow through the heat exchanger, suitable openings are provided at the front end of the vehicle.
The heat exchanger and the opening required at the front end of the vehicle are dimensioned for the most unfavorable case—for example, high vehicle speed, a high load, a high trailer load, or a high external temperature. The blades may produce the effect of a smaller opening which is sufficient for most driving conditions and create low aerodynamic drag while providing cooling under different operating conditions. This is achieved by an active shut-off flap arrangement disclosed herein.
The cooling assembly may also be adapted to a combination of low-temperature and high-temperature circulation systems, for example a combination of charge air cooling and a conventional engine radiator. An existing clear space or distance between the internal parts of the heat exchangers of the low- and high-temperature circulation systems is utilized for the blades. The blades may be integrated in one of the heat exchangers so that the heat exchanger may be installed as a unit with preassembled blades, minimizing the amount of additional space occupied by the blades.
Furthermore, individual actuators are not required to rotate each shut-off flap. Thus an active control system, such as control electronics with temperature sensors, is not required to change the blade positions. The cooling assembly is thus simplified and the likelihood of mechanical degradation or electronic complications associated with actuation of the cooling assembly is minimized.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.